Essence Appoints Adam Gerber as SVP of Investment, North America

In his new post, Gerber will lead Essence's investment group in the region, building an agnostic, cross-platform team that creates differentiated opportunity for clients while leveraging the capabilities of GroupM. Additionally, he will work to develop new investment models rooted in data and solutions-based outcomes, and expand the unique relationships Essence has built with digital platforms to a broader set of media companies. Gerber will report into both Christian Juhl, global CEO of Essence, and Lyle Schwartz, managing partner at GroupM.

Gerber brings with him an eclectic 25 year career working with agencies, platforms and media companies.  He spent the first half of his agency years leading traditional media planning for clients like P&G, Burger King, Unilever, Goldman Sachs and UPS, and the second half building digital operations at MEC and Mediavest.  Joining Essence ends Gerber's twelve year hiatus from the agency world, during which he served as VP of Ad Products and Strategy at Brightcove, a video platform company, CMO of Quantcast, a data and targeting platform and, most recently, SVP of Client Development and Communications at ABC. While at ABC, he led sales development across both linear and digital offerings, and was highly involved in new measurement, data and effectiveness work. 

"The talent within Essence and its overall offering provides a great platform to build a new kind of media agency," said Gerber. "There's a tremendous opportunity to advance both digital and traditional models, and to create more value for consumers, advertisers and the media companies who invest in compelling, ad-supported environments.  I'm excited to help shape how we value and trade media for some of the industry's most sophisticated clients, within the leading global media operation of GroupM."

"Adam's extensive background lends itself to understanding both sides of the business; this is extremely important given our full service offering," said Juhl. "As media continues its transition to addressable, data-driven solutions, our mission of 'making advertising more valuable to the world' is increasingly critical. I know Adam shares this vision and will help bring it to life via our investment team."

Gerber's appointment is effective immediately. He will work out of Essence's New York office.

About Essence

Essence, part of GroupM, is a data-driven global agency that blends data science, objective media and captivating experiences to build valuable connections between brands and consumers. Clients include Google, FrieslandCampina, and the Financial Times. The agency is more than 1,100 people strong, manages over $3B in media spend and deploys campaigns in 71 markets via offices in Chicago, Delhi, Düsseldorf, London, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.

Visit essenceglobal.com for more information and follow us on Twitter at @essenceglobal

SOURCE Essence

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